Joanna
by Jenn0509
Summary: Bella Swan has flirted with death her entire life, beginning at age three when she was kidnapped. She made it home, but her twin sister Joanna didn't. For fifteen years Bella thought her sister was dead, but when she cliff jumps trying to see Edward, she sees another face as well. -AU Post New Moon-Bella is not a wet blanket-Twin is not a Mary Sue-No Jacob Imprinting on Renesmee—
1. Chapter 1

Alright folks, here's the first chapter in this little exploration! Chapters will start with time-stamps, and will be varying lengths.

Things to note: This is going to be an AU in which Bella has a twin sister, which I'm using to help explain some of her behavior in the books. For the most part though, everything is going to stay pretty close to canon. Biggest exception to that: Jacob isn't going to imprint on Renesmee.

This chapter is mid-New Moon!

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 **March 16th, 2006**

"Bells? You okay?" Charlie asked, pausing halfway to the front door.

She nodded slowly, "Yeah, I just… noticed the date."

He looked at the calendar on the wall and stood there for a moment, "Wow, fifteen years." His hand shook a little as he ran it through his graying hair, "Damn. I didn't even realize. I can stay home if you want, Lord knows Billy'll understand."

"You don't have to." She said softly. She'd gotten used to him not worrying about her.

Charlie sat his bag down, "I can, if you want. You've never been here on this day, you were in Arizona last year."

Bella sucked in a deep breath, "I didn't realize." She bit her lip and hated the rush of guilt that spread in her gut, and a little morbid humor about her being in the hospital on March sixteenth more than once in her life.

"I didn't either." He said gruffly.

Bella forced a small smile, not wanting to spend the day awkwardly dancing around Charlie, "You don't need to stay. I'm spending the day with Jake."

His eyes brightened, as usual, at the mention of Jacob, but he frowned slightly, "It's a Thursday. Shouldn't he be in school?" There was a moments hesitation before he added, "Shouldn't you?"

Bella grimaced, scrambling for an appropriate response, "It's Spring Break. We're hanging out at the Reservation after I work on a project with a couple of girls from school. Doing homework and stuff with Jake. I'll probably be there pretty late."

Charlie let out a long sigh, "I'm glad you and Jake worked out whatever was going on between you two the last couple of weeks. That boy makes you happy."

She smiled back at him, but felt it even less than usual. "He's a good friend." The childish part of her wanted to over-emphasize the word 'friend', but Charlie wouldn't understand any better what was actually going on. In the fantasy world in his head, she and Jacob would get married and have lots of kids, and never ever leave the area. That, and he and Billy would have even more excuses to sit and watch ball games together.

Charlie awkwardly kissed the side of her head, "Alright, Kiddo. Have a good day, and…be safe."

"I will." She told him, but her thoughts had spiraled into that desperate place where she needed… _had_ to see Edward. Charlie wasn't going to approve of any of her methods.

Bella managed school work for nearly three solid hours, but the lunch break they took proved to be too much. The meal she had packed held little interest, and she just wanted to get away from all the asinine comments and stupidity. What made it worse was, somehow, sweet Angela seemed to remember what March sixteenth meant to the Swan family.

It was the day Joanna had died.

It was also the day the tentative relationship between Officer Charles Swan and his young wife Renee Swan had fractured beyond repair. She had never liked Forks, never wanted to be tied down, but as soon as their girls had vanished, Renee had started blaming him. And when Joanna never came home, well, Charlie had good as murdered Joanna himself. Bella wasn't sure if her mother had ever forgiven him, but sometimes, she wasn't sure her mother even remembered she'd had a second daughter. For flighty Renee, it would probably have been easier just to pretend, to block out the pain completely year after year until the source of it was almost entirely gone.

Bella couldn't forget though.

Before Edward and vampires had burst into her grey life, Joanna's blue eyes, their mother's eyes, had pretty much haunted Bella's every waking moment. Today was a day she couldn't forget, but it was one she'd forgotten before. Guilt gnawed at her, worse than usual because of something she'd done a year ago.

She feigned a headache to get rid of her classmates without looking like a total bitch, and drove to the Reservation, away from Angela's sympathetic glances, to the cliffs where she'd seen Jacob cliff-diving. She had to see Edward, needed to feel like he was with her, even if just for a split second. She texted Jacob telling him to meet her there, but when she got to the cliffs, Bella didn't feel like waiting.

And Edward came.

Just before she hit the water, she saw a plume of red that looked just like Victoria's hair, but all thoughts of the vampire were out of her head as soon as she met the water. All the air was knocked out of her, and the current instantly started dragging her down.

Against the sting of the water, Bella opened her eyes, and instantly sucked in more air. There was another girl in the water, gazing back at her with a livid expression.

The girl in front of her gasped, and Bella read her own name on the girl's lips. She brought her fists up, banging on an invisible wall between them as the water pulled Bella further down. Bella let go. She'd seen Edward, and she'd seen…Joanna? What else was there to fight for?

Just before she lost consciousness, she thought she heard a female voice scream, "Swim, damnit! Bells, swim!"

The next thing she knew, Jacob was leaning over her, "Bella, what the hell? You almost drowned! What's wrong with you?"

Bella sat up, those blue eyes haunting her even more than they had before. "I'm sorry. I should've waited for you. Thanks."

"Thanks?" Jacob echoed incredulously. His miffed attitude only intensified through the rest of March and into April, particularly with her fleeing to Italy to save Edward. Why he was still her friend, Bella honestly had no clue.

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Let me know what you think!

-Jenn


	2. Chapter 2

Well it seems there's some interest in this little project, so here is chapter 2!

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 **May 18th, 2006**

"Edward, I need to tell you something." Bella said softly.

Edward looked up from the piano, his long nimble fingers pausing over the keys once he took in the expression on her face, "What is it?"

She hated to say anything, hated her newest attempt at dispelling the perfect idea he had in his head of her. God knew he'd seemingly ignored everything about her that was so horribly plain and so completely unworthy of him. It had been so long, so long she'd almost forgotten herself, until that afternoon in the ocean that she'd never spoken about to anyone. In many ways she was sharing with Edward the last secret she had. Arguably the biggest, most devastating one, but she had to tell him, had to get it all off her chest.

"I haven't been entirely honest with you." She started, trying to come up with the words to tell him what had been bothering her for months, besides the whole Italy business and him leaving her in the first place. She blurted it all out at once, and was pretty pleased with the fact that she only stumbled over her words once, "Before we get to Florida, you need to know that…I-I have a sister."

He blinked a couple of times, seeming so slow for someone who was usually so fast, "A sister?"

Bella nodded, not looking at him in an effort to get through what she needed to say. He was distracting enough even when she wasn't dropping a bomb on him. She was doing so well too. "A twin. She died when we were two. Her name was Joanna. My mother has been kind of distracted every time you've met her, but we're going to be there for a weekend. I just didn't want you to be completely blindsided if she brings Joanna up."

He'd heard the name a couple of times around Forks, but had never thought that it was a relative, much less Bella's twin. No one had ever spent much time thinking about the name, no more than someone would spend thinking about a great grandmother they'd lost as a young child. No one have ever given him any cause to stop and think about the name.

"What happened to her, Bella?" He asked finally, completely stunned.

Bella sighed, rubbing her hands together, "It's kind of simple, actually. Charlie put this guy away, he died in a prison fight, and his brother blamed Charlie. He showed up here in Forks, and he kidnapped us from the back yard."

"And?" Edward asked after she was silent for a second.

Bella took a deep breath, "It's simple. I got away. Joanna didn't."

"That's not simple at all. Oh, Bella, I'm so sorry." He whispered, stunned he or the rest of his family had never heard anything about the death of a two year old in Forks.

"Don't be. I honestly don't think about her that often. We were so young." Bella said, feeling bad about admitting something like that. Unconsciously her hands drifted to her mouth.

Edward stared at her for a second, "You really have been flirting with death your whole life, haven't you?" He took her hands in his to keep her from gnawing on her fingers anymore.

Bella laughed for a second, and then felt tears burning in her eyes. "Edward, she's dead! She's dead, and I'm going on vacation to see our mother with my amazing vampire boyfriend who wants to marry me. I'm just…Bella."

Edward scowled at her, "I love you, Bella, it doesn't matter. I do wish you'd told me before now. I trusted you with my family's secret, but you didn't trust me with this."

Bella groaned, guilt gnawing at her, "That's not it."

He started to argue with her, but noticed the way she'd inflected _it_. "What is it?"

She looked nervous, like a little kid who'd done something wrong, and he had a terrible feeling he had at least some idea of where she was heading with this. "When I…uh…cliff jumped, I didn't just see you in the water. I uh…I saw Joanna too. Or at least I think it was her. She looked like me, but her eyes…they were blue like Joanna's were. Joanna had Renee's eyes."

Edward sighed heavily, torturing himself by taking in another breath of her sweet scent, "You're telling me you saw your dead sister when you almost got yourself killed?"

"I didn't just see her, Edward, I heard her. She was screaming at me to swim." Bella paused, biting her lowed lip, "She called me Bells. Joanna was the only other person besides Charlie to call me that. My only real memories of her are of her yelling 'Bells' to get my attention."

Edward pulled her to his chest, "The brain does crazy things when it's deprived of oxygen, Bella. I wouldn't dwell too much on it."

Bella made an almost growling sound, pulling away from him, "Edward, that wasn't the last time I saw her. When we were in Volterra and Aro was deciding if he was going to kill us or not, she was there, and again when I tripped last week and tried to brain myself. That she laughed at." She made a face at him in response to his skeptical expression, "I'm a little crazy, but I'm not that crazy. All that has gotten me thinking though. What if she's still alive? They never found her body, Edward, she could still be alive."

"They never found a body but they declared her dead?" Edward asked, confused, and wondering how Charlie Swan would have ever been convinced to stop looking for his daughter if there hadn't been a body found.

Bella nodded, "They found the guy's truck abandoned halfway to New York. Neither of them were there, but the passenger seat was filled with blood. It was Joanna's type. From what I've been told, the medical examiner said there was no way a two year old could lose that much blood and survive." She took in a rattling breath, "There were terrible forest fires that year, so officials assumed he dumped her body near a fire before heading into Canada. By the time the fires in that area were out, there was no way they'd have found anything more than teeth, if that. She was legally dead after that, but after seeing her these last few months and knowing about the supernatural… Isn't it possible that maybe she's alive, that either my mysterious power or maybe a power she has is letting me see her?"

Edward started to tell her no, that the odds were slim, but then he remembered that forensics hadn't been all that reliable over fifteen years ago. He also remembered Jane and Alec, undead proof that twins often had abilities that were foils of the other. He looked at the love of his life, her face flushed with the blood pumping faster than normal through her body, and measured his next words carefully, "It's possible, Bella. We can look into it when we get back, if it would make you feel better."

She smiled at him, "It would. I know we've got Victoria to worry about, but I can't get Joanna out of my head."

Edward pulled her to her feet, "Come on, they're about to call for our flight." One arm around her shoulder, he kissed the top of her head, "I'll call Jasper before we leave, ask him to look into it in his free time."

"You'll only tell him?" She asked, "I don't want everyone to think I'm losing my mind." God knew Rose hated her enough without her being crazy, the blonde vampire didn't any more fuel added to that fire.

"Of course." Edward told her gently, and brushed a quick kiss to her lips, "You're not losing your mind, Bella."

"Thank you." Bella whispered, relieved that he wasn't completely convinced that she was crazy. Although that made him even crazier than he already was for liking her in the first place.

Despite her fear of Renee outing the darkest secret forcing Bella to tell Edward the same secret, her mother only mentioned Joanna once. They had been outside on the patio that was everything Renee deserved, and it had been such an offhanded comment during her talk with Bella about her relationship with Edward, that Bella had been taken by surprise, "Watching you and Edward together reminds me of watching you and Joanna together. You two were so in sync." She smiled wistfully, oblivious to Bella's stunned expression, "It's nice to see you with Edward. It's like you're complete again, you're so much happier with him." Renee had wandered inside after that, and been quiet for a half hour before returning to normal.

They went back to Forks that night, and Bella was a bit dismayed to discover that Jasper hadn't found anything yet. Apparently they'd been preoccupied with Alice and her visions. Bella tried not to let it bother her, but she couldn't help but notice the occasional pitying look Jasper sent her way. It was not an improvement on his usual expression. So that was at least one more Cullen who didn't want to be around her. Fabulous.

She'd waited for sixteen years without answers though, a few weeks or months wouldn't kill her.

Besides, Edward could be right. After all, didn't everyone wish their dead loved ones were alive, or at least contacting them from the great beyond? She had gone sixteen years without dwelling too much on her sister though, and the whole mess with Victoria helped keep her mind off Joanna for the next four weeks…which was the only positive factor in the whole ordeal.

It was nearly the end of June before Jasper finally stood in front of her with a more puzzled than usual look on his face. Edward stiffened and Bella held her breath.

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Let me know what you're thinking! I'd love to read your theories!

-Jenn


	3. Chapter 3

So sorry this one took a month to get out! You guys are amazing, but real life was a busy mess these last few weeks. Enjoy!

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June 21st, 2006

"I have something on your sister." Jasper began awkwardly, "The blood in the truck belonged to an adult female, not a child."

Bella jumped up out of the safe circle of Edward's arms, "That's the whole reason they thought Joanna was dead!"

Edward grabbed her just before she tumbled into the glass bookshelf in her excitement, growling, "Careful, Bella."

"I'm sorry!" She cried apologetically towards Jasper who looked more alarmed than usual by her outburst. Bella looked up into Edward's golden eyes, "She could be alive, Edward. I need to find out what happened."

This was one of the moments that made Bella grateful that Edward's fantastic mind reading ability seemed to exclude her. He would be hurt by what she was thinking, and try even harder to change her mind than he already was. She wasn't going to change her mind, but the reality of their marriage, of the end of her own human life had made Bella feel guilty about leaving Charlie alone. That, and she wasn't sure Renee could survive losing both of her daughters.

Jasper gestured to a bag he'd put by the door, recapturing her attention, "I…uh…liberated a jacket that belonged to the kidnapper from the Forks Police Department. If he's still alive, we should be able to track him."

Edward kissed the top of her head, "We'll go right now."

Bella nodded vigorously in excitement, not even insisting she go because she knew Edward would fight her. She just wanted them back as soon as possible, "I'll be right here."

She called Charlie and told him she was spending the night in Port Angeles with Alice so they could work on wedding stuff. He didn't ask any questions past that, and Bella was grateful she hadn't mentioned anything to him earlier about Esme and the girls being away for the weekend. She was alone in their house because Carlisle was at work and Emmett was playing chauffeur to the female Cullens, but she would rather be there than in Charlie's house while she waited. Placating Charlie while she was on pins and needles might just push her over the edge.

Carlisle got home before Edward and Jasper did, and Bella pretended to be asleep rather than talk to him. She was fully aware he could tell she wasn't asleep, but Carlisle wasn't one to pry. She really just didn't want to talk, didn't want to tell Carlisle why she was so keyed up, and she knew if he started talking in that calm voice of his, she'd end up spilling it all.

Bella had actually fallen asleep by the time Edward and Jasper came back, and woke covered in a blanket that Carlisle must have put over her. She blinked a couple of times in the early morning light, and would have asked for a few human minutes if she hadn't been so eager to learn what they had discovered.

Edward sat down next to her, his face unreadable, "He didn't kill her, Bella."

"Okay, what happened?" She asked, putting a hand on top of his, waiting for all the information before she got too carried away. There were so many things she wanted to ask, but she had to trust that Edward would tell her what he'd learned and she wasn't about to slow him down.

"The blood in the truck was his girlfriend's. She didn't approve of what he had planned for Joanna, and he shot her. He dumped her at a hospital, as far as he knows, she's alive." He hesitated to tell her the rest, so she stared him down with the brown eyes she knew he loved until he continued, "Bella, he sold Joanna. He thought that if she was ever found it would be devastating to your father because she would be broken."

Bella took a minute to think it all over, rolling the concept of her sister being alive over and over in her head, accompanied by the word 'broken', "Okay, how do we go about finding her?" Edward looked even more anxious, and Bella sighed, "Just tell me, Edward."

"We found the man he sold her to. He kept her for nine years." He brushed his hair off of his forehead in a nervous gesture Bella didn't see on him too often.

Bella took his hand in hers, "Hey, I'll be okay. I just need to know the truth."

He sighed heavily, and told her things out of her worst nightmares. Joanna had been sold to a pedophile, a man who wanted little girls to be his own personal dolls. Joanna had stayed with him for years, until she'd gotten too old for him. He'd apparently regretted selling her because she'd started being more doll like, still breathing but completely unaware. She'd been eleven.

"Where do we look next?" Bella said firmly, at least six years ago her sister had been alive.

Edward sighed again, and even his eternally youthful face looked tired for once, "I don't know."

She smiled at him, softly, her brown eyes warm, "That's okay. We'll find her."

"I'm not sure what we're going to find, Bella." He told her honestly, "She could be dead."

Bella shook her head, "I can't think that way right now."

Alice and the others returned a little while later, and the pixie-vampire pulled Bella into her room. Alice smiled widely as she danced around Bella with a swatch of fabric, "Relax or you're going to get wrinkles." She poked the center of Bella's forehead with a finger for emphasis, "Edward may be brilliant, but he's wrong. She's not dead. She'll be at the wedding."

"What?" Bella gasped. She had just convinced herself that knowing what happened to Joanna would be enough, even if Edward turned out to be right, but what Alice was saying was…Joanna was really still alive, and she would see her long lost sister in less than two months.

Alice laughed dismissively, "She's going to need a dress too, we could try fitting it on you for the time being, but I think she's a little taller." She regarded Bella critically, "Hmmm…It could work!"

Bella threw her arms around Alice's neck, seemingly stunning the vampire, "Thank you, Alice."

She smiled at Bella, "We're going to be sisters! You're going to complete our family, but we're completing yours first. I don't know where she is ye, and I'll keep trying. But, Bella, she'll be here for the wedding."

Bella hugged Alice again, "Thank you, Ali."

"You're welcome." Alice said smugly, hugging the human back gently, "But I have a feeling she's going to make things very interesting around here."

* * *

The back door to the club opened for the third time since she'd arrived, and one of the younger girls stumbled in, face pale even lit by the light of the morning sun pouring in through the open door. "What's wrong?" She asked.

The girl was shaking, her southern accent thicker than usual, "I-I…I don't have enough. Crystal, I don't have enough! This is the sixth time this month. He's gonna kill me!"

"No, he's not." Crystal said firmly, "How much are you short?"

"A grand." The girl replied, her voice soft, "I've just been so sick…"

Crystal interrupted her, thrusting a wad of cash in her direction, "You're not short. I am."

The little southern girl who should have still been home with her momma stared at the older girl who'd been in the life longer than she'd even been alive, "But you'll get in trouble."

Crystal shook her head, brown hair tumbling around her shoulders, "Not as much as you."

The conversation ended, and they sat in silence as the rest of their troupe stumbled in. Sebastian brought up the rear, greedy hands out for the money they'd earned selling their bodies on the street. Of course he stopped at her last, staring at the money in his hand, "This is it?" She nodded, and he grinned, "Damn, the boss is going to want to talk to you, you stupid whore. Hope you've got a good explanation."

She didn't. And he didn't like it one bit. 'Big Rich'- Ricardo Diaz edged close to her in his office, "You mean to tell me that your fine ass only made three hundred bucks?" She nodded, blue eyes locked on the far wall. He put his mouth next to her ear, "You've never had trouble making your rent, even when you're on the rag, you're a talented girl. If you think you've got some big daddy who's gonna get you out of here you're wrong. I bought you, you are mine until I'm finished with you."

Her shrug and silence weren't what he wanted, but they were what he got and only made him angrier. His hand settled on the glittered skin on her throat and she didn't even flinch "You stupid fucking cow. Fine, let's see how you make rent now." His hand closed around the front of her throat and he pushed her back against the tobacco stained wall, "I'm going to fuck you up so this never happens again." He told her, but her attention was fading from him as his hand cut off her oxygen and bruised her throat.

Just before he started in on her, he added, "If you're working with the pigs, I'll end you. You hear me, Joanna?"

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Alright, let me have it: Theories?

-Jenn


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone! So sorry for yet another delay! Good news is I'm back for the New Year and the next chapter is already well underway.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **June 30, 2006**

Bella went to bed that Sunday night dreading going into town the next day. Jacob was gone. Charlie had been hesitant to tell her what had preceded the werewolf's flight, but he'd finally broken down and spilled after she glared at him long enough. The guilt was gnawing at her, and she laid staring at the ceiling for a while.

Their pantry was more sparsely stocked than usual and she couldn't avoid going to the grocery store. With her luck, someone would ask her about Jacob, and she really didn't want to think about it…him. Or any of it.

Jasper had been gone off and on all week, but hadn't had any luck.

Everything changed so fast.

Bella was sitting in her car waiting on the wherewithal to shift it to reverse to go to the store when Edward was suddenly there, sliding her over and doing it for her. "Edward!" She exclaimed as he sped down her street, her truck groaning in complaint. "You need to slow down!"

His jaw was clenched, "We need to go. Jasper found her."

"What?" Bella asked, completely stunned.

"She's in Vegas." He hissed.

Bella grabbed his arm, "Edward, stop. That's twenty hours from here. We can't just leave. Charlie will lose his mind." She took a deep breath, "He actually found her."

Edward steered the car off the road and was suddenly on his phone. All Bella could tell was that he was talking to Alice. Otherwise he was speaking to quickly for her to comprehend. He hung the phone up after less than a minute and nodded his head to her, "Alice is calling Charlie, and she'll meet us there. An impromptu bachelorette party. She'll also tell him that Carlisle and Esme will be there for Carlisle to speak at a medical conference."

"And he's just going to buy us all being in the same city as her when she's found after all these years?" Bella argued, "He's the Sheriff, Edward."

"Of Forks." He said weakly.

Bella scowled at him, "Seriously? He may be oblivious to the supernatural, but he's not stupid."

Edward thunked his head back on the headrest, "Well what do you suggest?"

The doe eyed human shook her head, "I'm not sure. I mean…" Bella pinched her eyes closed, "We need to wait on someone to call. We shouldn't know anything yet."

Edward nodded, "Okay, let me see if Carlisle can get her transferred here without someone letting Charlie know."

Bella went still, "What? Transferred?"

Her vampire grimaced, "She's in the hospital."

She felt a knot tighten in her stomach, and she stared at his stony profile, "Edward, what's wrong with her? Is she okay?"

He shook his head tightly, "Jasper found her unconscious in an alley behind one of the hotels. She's in a coma."

"A coma." Bella echoed, watching the trees whip past as Edward's foot held steady on the accelerator and her truck continued to groan and started to rattle.

"Jasper's with her." Edward whispered, "He's been staying close when her doctors have been in, says she's breathing on her own but she was completely unresponsive when he found her."

"How did she end up in a coma?" Bella asked, her eyes fixed straight ahead.

The silence trailed between them for a few seconds before he answered, "She'd been beaten. Pretty badly. According to Jasper she's lucky to be alive."

Her truck stuttered to a stop.

Edward hissed out what was likely a curse, but Bella hardly heard him, the tide of emotions threatening to drown her just as sure as the ocean had on her doomed cliff jumping expedition, "You just killed my truck. I told you you needed to slow down."

"I'll be right back, stay in the truck." Edward growled, and returned before Bella even had a chance to miss him. "I think I patched it enough to get it to Rosalie."

"She's alive." Bella whispered, turning away from him to pull her knees to her chest and stare blankly out the window.

Bella remained quiet for the rest of the ride, letting the shock overwhelming her, and hardly reacted the entire time Alice fussed over her in the Cullen living room until the sun had set and Edward held out a hand to her, "She just arrived in Port Angeles. Carlisle says the blood work is about to come in. We should be close when they let the police know."

"Guess it's more reasonable that we're visiting Carlisle while he's on shift in Port Angeles than a conference in Vegas, right?" Bella said softly, looking up at Edward for the first time in hours.

He gave her a tentative smile, "You're smart for a human."

She smiled back at him, although it was a small one, "There has to be something about me that isn't plain, boring Bella."

Edward's smile turned ever so slightly and he brushed a cool kiss to her forehead, "I would never describe you as boring, Bella."

She bit her tongue. Now wasn't the time to enter into that same argument with him. Her sister was alive. It seemed like a dream. Edward held her hand the entire drive there, and led her through the hospital whispering comforting words that fell on deaf ears. At least until she saw Jasper, pinch faced and pale, standing with his arms crossed outside of the ICU with Carlisle beside him.

Carlisle smiled at her, the same smile he used to dazzle all his patients, "Bella, she's in a medically induced coma right now to ensure that there's no risk of damage from brain swelling and she took a few good blows to her face, but she seems to be a fighter. She does look rather…rough."

"I don't care." Bella said, brushing past her future father-in-law.

There she was. Joanna Swan. Twin sister to Isabella Swan. Alive.

Bella stared at the girl on the bed in complete amazement, "Fifteen years, and there she is."

Edward was by her side faster than a human could have been, "Yes, Bella, she's here." He held her hand tightly, but she didn't register him.

"Bella?" The sound of her name on her sister's lips stole her breath. At the same time the monitors attached to the body on the bed beeped erratically. Carlisle moved some wires and muttered to himself urgently, pushing a vial of something into the IV hooked into the body's arm.

Bella continued to stare at her sister, the one standing at the foot of the bed staring back at her. She reached out and grasped Edward's arm with her free hand, "Edward…?" But the standing girl faded as the beeping slowed to a normal pace.

Carlisle looked almost…rattled, and frowned at Edward over Bella's head, but didn't speak.

Bella stepped closer to the body on the bed. "We look more alike than I thought we would." She whispered, noting the way the lips of the woman in front of her were thinner on top and fuller on the bottom like hers. They were obviously the same, even with the other's bottom lip busted open and held back together by two delicate stitches. There were stitches in her cheek too, but even with the swelling there wouldn't have been any doubt that they shared the same parents. Her thickly lashed eyelids remained closed though, hiding what had always been the biggest difference between them: Joanna's blue eyes.

"When we were toddlers we didn't look so alike. She had Renee's eyes and Charlie's curls." Bella touched her sister's gauze wrapped hand briefly, but jerked it back uncertainly, shifting nervously.

Edward knew the brief stillness in the room was about to end, "Bella." He said in warning, just before Charlie's muffled yells became audible to her.

"Bella! Damnit, get out of my way Gerry. You can't tell me my daughter's in the ICU and not let me in to her. Bella! Bells!" Someone hit a wall, "Let me in!" Bella just stood, wide-eyed, facing the door, unconsciously putting herself between the door and her sister.

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 **Poor Charlie! He's always been my favorite Twilight character, and I would read the hell out of a Charlie centric fic! Recs?**

 **Anyway, more details about Joanna are coming in the next chapter!**

 **Thank you so much for reading!**

 **-Jenn**


	5. Chapter 5

**Yup, another delay, but this chapter is cram packed with a ton of drama! Enjoy!**

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 **June 31, 2006**

Charlie Swan burst through the door just after midnight, and heaved a sigh of relief when his eyes fell on Bella, standing seemingly unharmed beside the boy she was so determined to be with. "Hell, Bells, they said ICU, and I thought you'd…" He trailed off, his brain finally processing what he was seeing behind her. His hand went out to brace himself against the doorframe, "Bella, who…? What…?"

Bella rushed to her father, unsure if she was holding him back or preparing to hold him up. Renee was going to be an unholy mess of sobbing and screaming, but Bella had no idea what to expect from Charlie. She found her voice quickly, mixing truth with lies to make it as easy as possible for him to understand so there didn't have to be more talking than absolutely necessary, mainly because she wasn't sure she could keep herself in line if he started asking questions.

Unlike Edward, she didn't have centuries of practice in lying, and, unlike their usual hospital conversations, she wasn't injured and couldn't pawn speaking off on Edward by feigning unconsciousness, "Charlie…Dad, they found Joanna. The state police got a tip, but they didn't want you to be involved. I was here with Edward and Jasper, we were here visiting Carlisle when they brought her in."

Charlie wrapped his arms around Bella and stammered nonsensical words for a moment, pushing Bella backwards towards the bed until he was ghosting a shaking hand over Joanna's arm. The girl at the center of it all stirred, and Edward was stunned. Unlike her sister, Edward could hear her thoughts over the numb sensations of the medications. They were disjointed and made almost no sense, but he understood enough to know that she had recognized their voices, Bella's and Charlie's. She remembered them. Joanna opened and closed her mouth slightly a couple of times before she finally got sound out, "Daaa…."

Charlie stilled instantly, still holding onto Bella, but his attention completely on Joanna. "I'm here, Jo Jo, Daddy's right here. Bells and I are right here."

Edward read vague notions of relief and satisfaction from the girl before she faded back into unconsciousness. Carlisle was frazzled. When they'd come in, Joanna had been in the middle of a cardiac event, a bad sign, but then she'd seemingly fought off sedation at Charlie and Bella's voices. The events made no medical sense.

Bella spent the next forty eight hours escaping back to Joanna's hospital room before Edward had a chance to come get her or Charlie had even rolled out of his own bed. She did her best to avoid everyone, even though Charlie had insisted that no one find out about Joanna until her mother had gotten in.

Edward had listened to Charlie's conversation with Renee on the phone, and had stared at Bella. What would it have been like? To have a child missing for fifteen years and then to get a call that she was alive. He could read Charlie's mind, but he couldn't really feel the emotions behind the thoughts. Those emotions had driven Jasper away when Charlie had first shown up, and Edward's brother hadn't been back to the hospital since.

Joanna herself hadn't stirred again from unconsciousness, and Carlisle and her other doctors were all hesitant to wake her up too early and risk brain damage. In the mean time they all did their best to keep her comfortable.

As usual, Alice was a blessing to everyone and Charlie loved her even more. Joanna may have still been unconscious, but her hair had been brushed out, her nails trimmed and painted, and her wounds had been tended to on par with a top notch plastic surgeon. Regardless of her injuries, Joanna's face wouldn't be scarred once she healed, and she wasn't going to wake up feeling the grit and grime from the alley she'd been found in.

Renee came in on a red-eye on July 2nd, and Carlisle got a new round of test results right after:

"Charlie? Renee? Could you both step outside for a moment? There's something I think we should discuss." Carlisle said as tactfully as possible.

Renee blinked at him a few times, clutching Joanna's hand in her own, tears still fresh in her eyes, "About Joanna? What is it?"

Carlisle smiled tightly in Bella's direction, "I think it's best we speak outside."

At Edward's side, Bella frowned, "If it's about my sister, you can just say what needs to be said."

Carlisle grimaced, "Bella…"

Renee interrupted him, "No, she's right. Bella can handle it."

Really Renee was just afraid she wouldn't understand whatever medical verbiage Carlisle might throw at her and she wanted to have Bella there to decipher it. She was right. Carlisle had a lot to tell them. Edward had been aware, but it wasn't his place to tell Bella or her parents what Carlisle's tests had shown. The vampires had smelled it on her already.

Carlisle nodded, "Very well. Based on her condition upon intake we started her on a range of antibiotics, and it's a very good thing we did. These test results today have shown that Joanna has several sexually transmitted diseases, and has fairly severe pelvic inflammatory disease. Fortunately everything that she has should respond to the antibiotics. Unfortunately, the damage she's already sustained from PID may be permanent."

Renee shook her head emphatically, "What does that mean, Carlisle?"

"Her reproductive system could be severely damaged, Renee. We won't know the real extent until we wake her up, but it's possible we might need to do a hysterectomy." Carlisle said gently.

"A hysterectomy on my eighteen year old daughter?" Renee screamed.

Charlie had stayed silent as long as he could. "STDs. Found in Vegas." He took in a shuddering breath, "Dr. Cullen, what in the hell has happened to my little girl these last fifteen years?"

Carlisle put a hand on Charlie's shoulder, "Sheriff Swan, the detectives in charge of her case and I believe that Joanna has been sexually abused."

Charlie shook his head. He knew better. Edward couldn't think of a human way to stop him before Charlie pulled his fist back and punched a hole in the wall. Renee gasped, and Bella jumped. Edward tightened his grip on Bella's shoulders ever so slightly when Charlie stormed out of the hospital room.

Renee recovered quickly, "Dr. Cullen, what else should we know about Joanna's condition?"

Carlisle let out a human breath of anxiety, "Even if she doesn't need the hysterectomy, Joanna could have considerable fertility issues. It's unlikely she will ever have children."

Silence followed his words.

Edward watched his father struggle to come up with more to say, "We are hopeful, however, that we should be able to wean her off the sedatives in the next few days. She's making good progress."

Renee's mind cycled into protection mode, which pushed all thoughts of Joanna's possible lack of fertility out of her head. "Weaning her off? So she's going to wake up?"

"We're very hopeful that once we remove her from sedation that she should wake up on her own." Carlisle replied easily, though his attention was drawn to Joanna's heart monitor.

Bella shot to her feet, and Edward felt off balance for a moment as he reacted to Carlisle's thoughts and Bella's reaction to…nothing. He nor Carlisle had said a word about the arrhythmia currently being displayed on the monitor. "What's going on?" Bella asked urgently.

"She's showing signs of a heart attack." Edward told her.

Renee gasped and started twittering incoherently while Carlisle moved to more closely assess the situation. "Wake her up." Bella demanded, heart racing in her chest, "Now!"

Carlisle shook his head, "That's not advisable. Being alert could put more stress on her heart…"

Bella grabbed the front of Edward's shirt, "She needs to wake up now!" She glanced pointedly at Renee, and then put a hand on the side of Edward's head, her chocolate brown eyes drilling into him as she whispered, "Her ability."

Carlisle heard her, of course, and after being unnaturally still for a moment, he sprung back into action, weaning Joanna off of everything much faster than he normally would have over the next couple of hours. For Renee's sake he spat out some vague medical terms explaining that Joanna was fighting the sedation.

Bella held her sister's hand until late in the evening, hardly getting distracted when Renee left to corral Charlie back into the room. Less than a week after Jane Doe had been found beaten half to death behind a Las Vegas casino, Joanna Swan's blue eyes fluttered opened in Washington State for the first time in fifteen years. Brown met blue, and the girl on the bed smiled sleepily, whispering in a rasping voice, "Bells?" Bella nodded, but couldn't speak. Joanna didn't have the same problem, "You gorgeous fucking idiot."

* * *

 **Let me know what you're thinking! You rock!**

 **-Jenn**


	6. Chapter 6

**Much quicker this time! You guys are fabulous, and hopefully this chapter answers a few of the questions some of you had from the last one. If not, let me know!**

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 **July 2nd, 2006**

Bella burst into tears, and threw her arms around Joanna's neck. Joanna's hands shook as she reached up to hold her sister. Joanna's eyes looked over Bella's shoulder, wide and almost out of time as she blinked looking happy and confused all at once as she looked at first Edward, then Carlisle.

 _None of it was a dream._

Edward was just as confused, watching tiny snippets of him and Bella through Joanna's eyes.

She'd been there: In the forest with them the first time he'd told Bella about his true nature. The first time he and Bella had kissed and he'd almost lost control. In the ballet studio with James. Back in the forest the time he had left Bella. Bella alone in the water drowning before Jacob had pulled her out. Deep in the bowels of Volterra under Aro's sharp eye.

All times Bella's life had been hanging by a thread.

Joanna had power. Bella had been all too accurate in her theory, and the realization made Edward's undead heart clench. The Volturi could never find out about Joanna. If they did their interest in Bella would increase two-fold. Aro, after all, coveted matching sets.

Oblivious to the cyclone in Edward's head Carlisle was monitoring Joanna carefully. "Her heart rate and sinus rhythm appears to have returned to normal." He turned to look at the girl in question, "Joanna, are you in any pain?"

 _Pain?_

She took a deep breath, taking in Bella's scent and committing it to memory before she answered in her hoarse voice, "Just my head."

 _Throat too._

Edward just watched as Bella pulled back, "Did I hurt you?"

Joanna didn't respond, and Edward abruptly got lost in the memories of pain that popped to the forefront of her mind.

Charlie reached out to her, "Joanna?"

Joanna flinched away from him, sucking in a breath that was audible to everyone in the room.

Charlie stepped back instantly, both hands up by his shoulders, and when he spoke he was much quieter, "Hey, Jojo, it's just me. Dad. I'm not about to hurt you."

Joanna lost it.

Heaving sobs.

And words that broke Charlie's heart into more pieces, "I'm sorry Daddy! I'm so sorry!"

This time when Charlie approached, Joanna didn't jerk away. Instead he held her to his chest while she cried. Renee and Bella closed in around them and Carlisle thought pointedly in Edward's direction, _'We should give them space.'_

The two vampires stepped into the hallway. "What are you thinking, Edward?"

"She's going to need a lot of therapy." Edward replied dryly, attempting to hide his panic from his adoptive father.

Carlisle wasn't fooled, "Edward?"

"She has a power." Edward whispered, and continued in a voice too soft for a human to hear, "Astral projection. She's been tied to Bella this whole time, only until she just woke up she thought she hallucinated it all. Vampires aren't real, after all."

If possible Carlisle went paler than normal, "She knows."

Edward nodded tightly, "But she was convinced Charlie was going to slap her, and that became a bigger threat than knowing there were two possible vampires in her room."

"She's more than likely been sexually abused for a decade and a half. I would find it unusual if she didn't react negatively to the nearness of a man, regardless go his species or relationship to her." Carlisle admonished.

Jasper and Alice arrived a few minutes later, and even Alice's usually bubbly personality was subdued, "How is she?"

Edward ran a hand through his auburn hair, "Bella? Relieved to have her sister back. Joanna? Skittish and overwhelmed by it all."

Jasper nodded in agreement, his face tight, "Joanna isn't as controlled as Bella is, and even Bella is struggling to pick an emotion."

Alice's mouth was pressed into a thin line and Edward watched as she flicked through possible futures. She hesitated on one that showed not only Bella as a vampire, but Joanna as well, both sisters dressed in the menacing robes of the Volturi. "No." Edward snapped.

Alice scowled defensively at him, "It's just a possibility, Edward. We wouldn't let that happen." She focused on another one where he and Bella were sitting together watching Joanna arm wrestle Emmett, both sisters happy and perfectly immortal.

Sometimes he hated Alice. He loved his sister, but sometimes… She only saw the good things about being a vampire, and had a tendency to glorify their undead existence. Even Jasper's daily struggle for control got pushed aside when she calculated her own personal opinion on the best outcome. The best outcome had always been for Bella to have children and grow old, but that wasn't going to happen. And her sister was possibly doomed as well.

He ruined everything he touched.

Bella exited the hospital room, her eyes bloodshot, and more than enough to distract him from his morbid thoughts. She smiled at him, brushing chocolate brown strands away from her face as she slid herself into his arms, "Charlie and Renee are heading to the house for the night." She hesitated, her next words passing silently over her lips before she got them out, "Joanna wants to meet you all." Bella frowned up at Edward, her chin propped on his chest, "She knew your name."

Edward tried to give her a smile, but judging by Carlisle's thoughts, he failed miserably, "You were right. She was in the water with you. She knows a lot more than she should considering she's been missing for fifteen years."

Bella's lower lip found its way into her mouth, "Guess that explains why she cursed and called me an idiot. Honestly not the greeting I imagined getting, but if she knows you all are…then, well…I guess that makes sense. Charlie thinks the same thing and doesn't know the whole truth."

Charlie and Renee exited, the sheriff's thoughts vacillating between planning the murders of faceless men and self harm. Renee's thoughts flipped between hopeful imaginings of the future and wallowing in her own despair about losing Joanna in the first place.

Charlie suppressed a human growl when he spoke to them, "Jo's still more stubborn than Bells. Wants to see you all when she's scared of her own dad." He left the curses in his head blissfully contained as he practically dragged Renee away.

The scent of fresh blood greeted them as soon as they opened the door to enter, and Bella characteristically swooned against Edward. Joanna looked over her shoulder and scowled impatiently as she held pressure on the hole her IV had once been in. "Seriously? Bella, that's just sad." She croaked, coughing slightly into her shoulder.

Jasper had fled instantly, but Alice remained next to Carlisle while Bella held onto Edward, "What…what are…what are you doing?"

Joanna looked down at her arm for a few seconds, as if she wasn't sure what she'd done. She was, her thoughts were just trying to hone in on a way to explain her actions without further upsetting Bella. "I hate needles. Too many girls in my like of work get hooked on pumping their bodies full of shit and die."

Bella considered her sister for a moment. They all did. Awake and not crying she looked less like Bella than before. She was the Rosalie to Bella's Alice. Both stunning, but one more eye-catching than the other to everyone but the man who loved her.

Bella scowled back at her sister, "Really?"

Edward sighed knowing what Joanna was going to say before she said it. "Shit. I'm not going to lie to anyone, Bella. That's half the truth." Joanna confessed, her blue eyes looking over every inch of the three vampires in the room, "I kind of wanted to see if I'd lost my mind." In an instant her blue eyes seemed to turn to ice, "So tell me, just how much do you want to suck my blood?"

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 **Joanna will be heading home in the next chapter!**

 **Your reviews mean the world to me!**

 **-Jenn**


	7. Chapter 7

So sorry this one took a while!

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July 2nd, 2006

"I told you she was going to make things interesting." The tiny female chirped, a tightness around her eyes that contrasted starkly with the bright smile on her lips.

Vampire.

She had to be one too. So did the older man standing beside her. Dr. Cullen.

"Alice." Edward snapped.

To his credit, Dr. Cullen looked more concerned than hungry, and glided around Bella and Edward to examine Joanna's arm, "You were in a coma for half a week, Ms. Swan. You still need the IV."

Joanna shook her head, "No. I'll drink whatever you want me to, but 'm not going to be a pin cushion." Her blue eyes flicked to Bella, "You okay?"

Bella nodded fervently, but still seemed to be the most effected person in the room by the blood that had dripped down Joanna's arm.

"Liar." Joanna jabbed, holding a hand out to her twin, "Sit? Promise I won't bleed on you."

Bella swallowed tightly, but came to her. Joanna could have cried again when Bella was by her side once more. Even the minutes with Bella just outside the room had been almost more than she could bear. Bella being close was worth the pain that shot through her body when Bella tried and failed to ease gently onto the bed. Her graceless twin struck again.

"I can't believe you're here." Bella whispered.

"Me either." Joanna whispered back, leaning into Bella's steady heat. She locked eyes with Edward, "No one answered my question."

Edward swallowed once, hard. "We've eaten recently."

"They drink from animals, Jo." Bella said gently, touching the ends of her hair, which were lighter than the rest, remnants of the time she'd dyed it a few years back.

Joanna closed her eyes at her sister's confirmation, "They weren't dreams."

"No, they weren't." Edward deadpanned.

Joanna looked up into Bella's face, "How could I possibly have seen all of these things? How could I possibly know that that boy is a vampire? That he's almost killed you before. That you love him, and that there are far scarier creatures than these three or the monsters that hurt me out there in the shadows."

Bella blinked back tears, but held a hand out like she was telling the vampires that she would handle it. Edward looked sick, but kept his mouth shut. After giving her lower lip a good chew Bella finally answered her sister, "There are people out there with powers, Jo. I kind of have one, and we've met twins who both had powers. So this is maybe your power. Seeing me."

Joanna remembered all the places she'd been though, all the people she'd seen flashes of but never known. The hundreds of places she'd apparently travelled to for split seconds when she'd felt that crawling of her skin coupled with the need to escape. "I haven't seen just you, Bells."

Bella looked surprised, but the vampires showed no reaction on their stoney faces.

"I don't know." Bella replied, frowning and biting her lip again, "There's really not a lot of research on this stuff, Jo. They get stronger if that person turns into a vampire. Like Edward remembers being intuitive as a human, and now he reads minds. Well, apparently every mind but mine. That's my power. My mind is like…a void."

"And mine goes too far." Joanna added, feeling her voice finally give out. She'd been pushing it, but her stupid throat just couldn't go anymore. Her adrenaline fueled reprieve was over, and she dragged here eyes from Bella to Edward as all of her bravado and energy fled her.

 _I lied. I'll take that IV again._

Edward smiled in spite of himself, "Turns out she's just as stubborn as you are, Bella. Carlisle, Joanna would like to have her IV replaced."

For the next four days all they talked about was Joanna's health and the Fourth of July. Not a word about powers or vampires. She had apparently responded brilliantly to the antibiotics, and her bruises had already changed colors several times and were fading. She had, however, requested to speak with the doctor alone the day before she was scheduled to be released.

"I was watching when you were talking to my parents." Joanna began, grimacing and resisting another grimace when the stitches in her lower lip pulled.

Dr. Cullen nodded in understanding, "Do you have questions?"

"About PID?" Joanna said, shaking her head, "I know what it is, what it does. I just…you say the antibiotics are helping, but…are they helping that?"

"You have extensive scar tissue that the antibiotics can do nothing about." He told her softly.

Joanna sighed, pulling her legs up to her chest and resting her cheek on one of her knees, "I'll live with my past for the rest of my life, won't I? Even after all the stitches come out." She sniffed hard once, refusing to cry about it taking every ounce of her courage to be as put together as she was appearing to be alone in a room with a man. Vampire or not. "At least my lady parts don't really hurt. That's lucky, right? I've known girls who offed'emselves because of the pain from PID."

Seeming to sense her pathetic unease, Dr. Cullen took a step back from the bed she'd called home for the last week, "I think you are a very lucky young woman. Physically you're healing exceptionally well."

Joanna wrapped her arms around her legs tighter, "But the thing about me having scarring, not being able to have kids. That hasn't changed, has it?"

Dr. Cullen sighed so softly she wouldn't have heard him if she hadn't been listening so closely for his response, "I may not be practicing obstetrics, but I am very familiar with your condition."

"Cut to the chase, Doc." Joanna growled, needing to hear the words with her own ears, not those of her ghost self.

"Carrying a viable pregnancy to term would be nearly impossible for you." He said bluntly.

Joanna pinched her eyes closed. For several minutes she said nothing. He didn't even breathe. And that didn't bother her. The reality of her situation was suddenly crushing her, "She could no longer borrow from the future to ease her present grief."

Dr. Cullen appeared visibly surprised by her words, "Nathaniel Hawthorne."

She shouldn't have been surprised that he knew what she had been quoting, but she felt the need to qualify it, "My first owner thought it was fun to have recordings of him reading run all the time. The Scarlet Letter was my favorite."

"Your sister appreciates the classics as well." He commented, settling against the wall in an obvious attempt to appear less threatening. The thought was appreciated, but it didn't help.

"Yeah, she was in here earlier reading Withering Heights to me." Joanna told him, even though she was pretty certain he already knew all about their macabre story time.

She had mentioned the night before to Bella that she was tired of TV, and had asked if she had any audiobooks. Bella had shown up with real books instead, and had told her about each of them with genuine excitement before asking Joanna to pick one. Bella had read until her throat had gotten scratchy and the sun had started to set, and Joanna had insisted she let Edward take her home for the night. The vampire, who had been imitating a statue on the floor by the door, had agreed heartily and had escorted Bella out. Joanna had been alone a whole two blissful minutes before her mother showed up to stay with her.

"I'm releasing you tomorrow, Joanna." Dr. Cullen said, and she marveled that her thoughts had actually distracted her enough to let her release her knees a little bit and to be startled when he started talking again in his too perfect to be human voice, "The police are going to want to talk to you then. Charlie simply can't delay them any longer, but perhaps Bella can bring you by our home this weekend. The rest of the family is eager to meet you." He said it all without seeming too eager himself, and for that she was grateful. She still wasn't as convinced by the harmless act as her sister obviously was. But maybe that was just her being unnaturally suspicious. Even Charlie had brightened every time the tiny one, Alice, had shown up to sit with them, and he seemed suspicious of pretty much everyone else who came near her.

"I'll ask Bella." Joanna finally responded. She was being released. She was going home. And she wasn't the least bit ready. She would rather have gone to the police station. At least she knew what to do there. Even when she'd been Crystal she'd known what to do, what her reactions to certain situations had to be. As Joanna Swan…she had no idea what to do at all.

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Let me know what you think!

-Jenn


	8. Chapter 8

Lots of teary fluff here. I'm a sucker for Charlie!

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July 8th, 2006

If Joanna had to talk to another police officer she was going to scream. They had so many questions, questions she didn't have answers to. Charlie was trying to be patient, trying to get answers while making sure she didn't get too stressed. He hadn't even gotten her out of the hospital before the FBI had pounced and insisted they go to the station to talk. Her father was furious about being dragged to his domain on someone else's terms, but Joanna just wanted to get away.

'Do you remember any names?'

'Are you familiar with any of these faces?"

It went on and on.

What was Bella doing? Surely having more fun than she was. Charlie had insisted Bella go home. Of course her sister had protested, but Joanna had encouraged Bella to go. Her sister didn't need to hear any of the sordid details she'd divulged in the last five hours of discussion.

"Alright, that's it!" Charlie finally roared, just as Joanna felt herself begin to drift.

His raised voice jolted her back into her skin with a gasp.

She hadn't even heard the question they'd asked, but, even incensed, Charlie was instantly focused on her. "Christ, Jo. I'm sorry, kiddo. Didn't mean to startle you."

Joanna shook her head dismissively, "I'm fine."

"No, you're not." Charlie growled, turning to the agent who had been interrogating her. "My daughter and I are going home. Now."

"Mr. Swan-" The detective began.

Charlie shook his head furiously, "My daughter hasn't been home in over a decade. Your questions can wait a few damned days." He held a hand out to her. "JoJo?"

Joanna nodded, and took his hand. She wasn't unused to being led around by men, but there was something far different when it was her dad. Finally. How many times had she remembered just how warm he was, imagined what it would feel like to be curled up next to him and Bella watching a game? She held his hand tighter, following him back to his car.

Once they were settled back in the front seat he rubbed his face with his hands, sighing before looking over at her, "I should've protected you."

The look in his eyes, the way he said the words… he meant so much more than just from the FBI. "I'm okay." Joanna whispered, reaching out to take his hand.

He just stared at her, hand clenched on the gear shift, unmoving for long enough that he looked like he would fit right in with the Cullens. A tap on the window startled them both. Carlisle.

He smiled pleasantly through the glass, and waited patiently as Charlie rolled the window down by hand, "Dr. Cullen?"

Carlisle took them both in for a split second, "Just checking that you two are doing well. I meant to check in before you were discharged but got caught up."

Charlie nodded, "Taking her home. Finally."

"Good, she needs rest." Carlisle advised, for the hundredth time. He raised a file in his hand, "They called me in to bring my report a half hour ago."

"Impatient assholes," Charlie muttered under his breath, "Wouldn't even let me take her home."

Carlisle chuckled, "Possibly kismet. I believe Bella has been trying to convince my Alice not to throw a welcome home party the very day you arrive home, Joanna."

Words tumbled out of her mouth, and she wasn't quite sure what she actually said…she really hoped her abject refusal had come across by the time she got to, "No…just no."

"As I said, Bella is persuasive when she wants to be. I'm sure any decorations will be gone by the time you both get home." Carlisle advised, stepping away from the car, "Rest, Joanna. Doctor's orders."

Joanna felt herself smile at him, grateful that his kind soul didn't acknowledge how much of a fuck up she was, "Will do."

He shook his head abruptly, "I almost forgot. Esme would like to invite the Swans over for dinner next weekend. She and the girls need Bella to finalize something for the wedding and thought we could make an evening of it, as a family." Charlie looked like he would rather have run over his own foot, but he nodded in acquiescence and finally put the car in gear.

The drive was too short and too long all at the same time. What would the house feel like? Would it smell like she remembered? It couldn't, could it? The days in her memory of Renee baking Nestle Tollhouse break and bake cookies and singing off-key in the kitchen were in the past. But what if it seemed completely foreign? What if her home didn't feel like home anymore?

Charlie took his time walking around the car, letting her take in the sight of the Swan Residence. Then he rambled as they creeped up the front walk, both going slower than they had to, "It's nothing fancy like the Cullen's, but it'll do. Have to admit it'll be tight with three of us, you girls will be bunking in Bella's room. At least until the wedding." A deep sigh, "The wedding. Both my girls home, and it's for a month."

Joanna grabbed his hand before he could turn the knob she had always remembered being too high, too out of reach for her little hands to turn to let her get to her snack before Bella. She fixed Charlie with her blue eyes, and whispered, "I'm home, Daddy."

Tears instantly filled his eyes, and he pulled her into his chest, holding her there like she were the most precious thing on the planet. "Yeah, JoJo, you're home. Home, goddamnit."

The door opened, and suddenly Bella was there, tripping slightly on the lip of the door as she rushed to join their hug. Joanna caught her, and the twin girls each tucked themselves into Charlie's side, holding on to him and each other at the same time. Charlie held them both for the first time in fifteen years, and no one thought any less of him when his shoulders shook and hot tears fell onto his girls' dark hair as they stood together on that porch until their arms ached from holding on so tightly. He wiped his eye furiously when they finally pulled apart, the summer sun just starting to set, "I'll let you girls settle in. Have to be hungry now, it's been a long day, right, Jo?" He didn't wait for her to respond, "Bells can give you the tour while I get dinner. Mushroom burgers good?"

Bella grinned at him, shaking her head at something that was lost on Joanna, "Sounds good, Charlie." He sniffed, wiping his sleeve across his eyes again as he walked backwards down the drive, refusing to give up the sight of his girls together on the front porch of his home again any earlier than he had to. Bella took Joanna's hand in hers, "Come on, you look exhausted."

Joanna followed her inside, relieved that, while it wasn't the same as it had been in her memories, it still felt…good. Charlie's chair looked worn, the sofa looked cozy, and the kitchen looked clean despite it's age.

"Jo?" Bella questioned when her sister lingered at the bottom of the stairs.

"I was afraid." Joanna answered honestly.

Bella frowned, her chocolate eyes bright in the early evening light, "Of what?"

"That it wouldn't feel like home." Joanna told her sister, "But it does. One of these steps, it squeaks, right? Or it did?"

Bella nodded, "The fifth one. I have to step over it when Charlie falls asleep watching a game unless I want to wake him up." She held her hand out to her sister again, "Alice moved some of my stuff so there's more room for us."

"I've seen your room, Bella." She faked a shiver, "I've seen what weirdness goes on in that bed…and what doesn't."

Bella scoffed, marching up the stairs and heading to her room. Joanna tiptoed up the stairs after her, and again lived the deja vu of being somewhere that her only memories remembered as visions of something unreal. But it was real. Everything she'd seen was real, right down to the dream catcher that hung on Bella's headboard.

Charlie found them a half hour later, curled up on Bella's bed, both fast asleep. He moved slowly so as to not make the floor boards creak and wake them, draping a blanket over the both of them, and watching from the door for a moment before whispering as he turned off the light, "Good night, girls. Sweet dreams."

If only they had been sweet dreams.

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So sorry I dropped off the face of the Earth when it comes to this story, that was never my intention! I can't promise when the next update will be, but I can promise your reviews always help keep the muse going!

-Jenn


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